With a lot of fans cheering for the US and English soccer teams, Americans and Englanders have no choice but to pick new favorites to win the World Cup finals. The biggest buzz right now, aside from the horns (which by the way have now been added to youtube as a listening option) is Spain versus Portugal. Two Iberian neighboring countries that live and die for the sport, especially at World Cup. Then we have two countries - Paraguay and Japan - two outsiders that most would never even imagined being matched up in the 16th round at the FIFA World Cup.
After losing to Switzerland in their opening match, the Spanish European champions eyes were opened wide. They then fought their way through the knock out phase and ranked at the top of their grouping. Now after Portugal beating tough teams including Brazil and Cote d'Ivoire, they have found each other matched up to play against one another.
For fans, this is the game to watch. Looking at the records, the arrow points to Spain as the dominant team, being European champions and having beat Portugal 3 times and only drawn once in 4 seperate FIFA World Cup qualifiers. But even with those records, the most recent of those games happened 60 years ago. Portugal definitely has their work cut out for them, competing against one of Spain's toughest and strongest line ups of all time, but coach Del Bosque has great faith in their defensive line, and their star player Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo being the highest paid soccer player in history, he best be in his element for this game.
On the other side of FIFA play, Gerardo Martino can be thanked for Paraguay's utmost success in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This 47 year old Argentinian coach moved to Paraguay to implement his successful defensive tactics and rapid counter-attacks. The Japanese team is definitely in for a good running. The Japan team coach and former international defender, knows that they cannot beat Paraguay from physicality but by strong directed passes playing at a steady pace, and full-backs moving up to emphasize his players strengths.
